INTRODUCTION

"Maximus. You commanded legions? You had many
victories?""Yes.""In Germania?"

Well, not exactly.

When the makers of Gladiator needed a place to film the massive
battle which forms the opening sequence, their search took them to Farnham,
England. Here they found a beautiful woodland location with everything they
needed, plus the blessing of the Forestry Commission to burn some of it down!
And so it was that the decisive conflict of the Germanian Campaign was fought
not beside the icy Danube, but just off the A31 in Surrey.

Having been deeply impressed by the film, and seeing the name of the wood in
various interviews, we made it an ambition to visit the location. Early
intentions were to go during the winter months, when the weather and lighting
would be as close to the film as possible; circumstances prevented this however,
and by the time we finally made the journey it was the middle of June, and what
turned out to be the hottest day of the year! Blazing sunshine may not be quite
in the spirit of the film, but at least it made for better photographs.

Armed with a photocopied map kindly provided by the office of the Town
Clerk, we arrived in the morning. We had no idea of what - if anything - we
would find. Had the fires seen in the film altered or destroyed the area? Worst
of all, did the battlefield really exist or was it just a product of the same
computer graphics which built Rome? We needn't have worried.

We parked the car at the unassuming entrance to the wood and started in.
Following the uphill road to the end we emerged onto a flat, sandy plateau which
afforded a gorgeous view of a huge clearing. Even though this was not an angle
familiar from the film, we knew right away that this was the location. It felt
right. Before long we had worked out what went where, and we then set about
visiting as many as possible of the settings we had seen on the screen.